Personal and Humor

Watch out for Metallic Objects in IP Phones! You Could Get Hurt!

February 13, 2012

I've tested, used, and reviewed many Polycom phones over the years, but apparently I never noticed or received this warning letter with these phones. Check out this ridiculousness:

WARNING ALL SOUNDPOINT IP PHONES
With respect to section 5.4.3.10 of the Australian Communications Authority as Telecommunications Technical Standard AS/ACIF S004 2004 under the s376 of the Telecommunications Act 1997:

You should be aware that, under certain operating conditions, the handset earpiece may retain small metallic objects. If this occurs, these objects should be removed before using the handset.

Really? Seriously? You have to warn users that the handset earpiece may contain small metallic objects (metal shavings?) and should be removed before using it?

a) The handset is made of smooth plastic, so any metallic shavings or objects should slide right off.
b) If loose metallic objects are internal to the handset, then won't they likely stay there?
c) Even if loose objects fall out through the ear piece's opening, who the heck grinds the handset into their ear that would cause an injury and merit a warning?
d) If you're idiotic enough to pick up something and stick it on your ear without noticing metal objects on the earpiece... well, perhaps you deserve sharp metal pricks to your ear - a little smack to the head too I might add.

Posted in Personal and Humor, Polycom, SIP, TMCnet, VoIP

No Winter for the Northeast - But Miami Here I Come!

January 29, 2012

It's almost February and it has been a very mild winter with only two snow storms so far and warmer temperatures than normal. Not that I'm complaining - my heating bill has been less than half it was from the previous winter even with the higher hearing oil prices. It sure didn't look like it was going to be a mild winter if you judged the coming winter back in October where a freak snow storm broke thousands of limbs in the Northeast, which had not yet shed their leaves. The leaves caught the wet snow weighing down the trees and causing massive damage to trees and power lines from fallen trees.

Posted in Personal and Humor

President Obama Has VoIP Glitch

January 4, 2012

Apparently, President Obama had some VoIP glitches when he attempted to tried to steal some of the Republican Iowa Caucuses' spotlight last night via a live address to his Democratic supporters over the Internet. The video teleconference had sporadic audio issues making him hard to understand. It's bad enough trying to understand some of President Obama's policies when he is speaking clearly never mind when he's encountering VoIP packet loss and jitter!

According to ABC News, Obama's video teleconferences utilized a proprietary software program developed for the Obama campaign by Adobe Systems Inc. It's likely a derivative of the Adobe Connect VoIP, video, and collaboration platform.

In one part of the video, he sounded like Max Headroom "(static) In some ways, I'm actually more optimistic now then I was when I first ran cuz we've already see...

Posted in Internet, Personal and Humor, Politics, TMCnet, Video Conferencing, VoIP

Only 15 Christmas Shopping Days Left!

December 9, 2011

Where has the month of December gone? There is only 15 shopping days left till Christmas Day and I haven't even started shopping yet. I have no idea what to get for my wife and two kids -- nor what gadgets to ask for myself. Already own an iPad and an iPhone 4S. Also own an Xbox 360, Denon 7.1 home theater setup, 55” TV, and various other gadgetry that would be too long to list here.

Posted in Gadgets, Personal and Humor

Yelp Mocks Rick Perry in App Store

November 11, 2011

Yelp fixed three bugs in its iPhone app yesterday, but the interesting part was how they got a 'dig in' on Republican candidate for President, Texas Governor Rick Perry. Yelp lists the three bug fixes as:

- Bookmarks-related bugs
- iOS5 styling and layout bugs that are now gone
- And the um… uh, what’s the third one? Let’s see… Bookmarks iOS, layout and the um.. the third one we can’t recall. Oops.

This is an obvious reference to the now famous flub by Governor Rick Perry who couldn't recall the 3rd government agency he'd like to eliminate, stumbling around, and then finally admitting defeat and trying to joke about it by saying "Oops".

Posted in Apple, Personal and Humor, Politics

Yankees Cup Stolen!

October 18, 2011

Damn it all, my lucky 2000 Yankees World Series souvenir cup was stolen (similar to one on right). The large soda cup was from the first ever Subway Series World Series game against the New York Mets. The game was a classic and was won by the Yankees in the 12th inning. The Yankees won it on a liner to the left field stands where I was sitting.

Posted in Personal and Humor

Quadruple rainbow caught on camera

October 6, 2011

Forget double rainbow! Quadruple rainbow caught on camera. And for those nostalgic rainbow types here's the original Songify-ied double-rainbow! Thank you Sun for the YouTube hilarity.

Posted in Internet, Personal and Humor, Technology and Science

Home Surveillance using Dropbox Catches Possible Thief in the Act

August 20, 2011

I've been meaning to test out my home surveillance recipe which combines a standard webcam, Dropbox (hosted backup solution), iPhone & iPad mobile Dropbox app, and the free Yet Another Webcam Software (Yawcam). I went to Cape Cod last week and hired a pet sitter to watch our family's dog (Jessie) and cat (Boaz), which offered a perfect opportunity to test out my "poor man's home surveillance" setup. What I found happening in my house while on my vacation shocked me!

But first, my home surveillance recipe:
Setup and install Dropbox (comes with 2GB free). If you use this link, I get 250MB more storage. Create two folders within the main Dropbox folder.

Posted in Digital Cameras, Gadgets, Home Entertainment, Internet, Personal and Humor, TMCnet, Video Hardware & Software

Atlantis Shuttle's Sandra Magnus has Bad Hair Day During Video Call to President Obama

July 18, 2011

The STS-135 mission is the last shuttle mission, so I decided to check out the video call with President Obama. As I was watching the Atlantis crew video call with President Obama I noticed Sandra Hall Magnus had a "hair malfunction". For a split second I thought Carrot Top had stowed aboard the Atlantis shuttle! See for yourself:

[click for larger view]

Damn that zero gravity! What woman wants perpetual bad hair days in space? Unless you look good with your hair up or have your hair short hair like Star Trek Voyager's Seven of Nine, female space travelers are not going to be happy campers with their hair going all Don King on them.

While most scientists tend to be male, I wouldn't be surprised if a super-motivated female scientist invents the first anti-gravity device - not for more comfortable interstellar travel, but to solve the bad hair days. Just sayin'...

[P.S.

Posted in Personal and Humor, Technology and Science, Video Conferencing

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